Molybdenum and Copper Isotope Systems as Petroleum and Paleoceanographic Tracers

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With the advent of multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, metal isotope systems have emerged as a new subdiscipline of isotope geochemistry. However, development of metal isotopes as an oil-oil and oil-source rock correlation tool is in the exploratory stage. This study proposes to fully assess the molybdenum and copper isotope systems as petroleum tracers using well-studied petroleum systems containing single (Siljan region, Sweden) and multiple (Western Canada Sedimentary Basin) source rocks. Experimentally produced oil (from hydrous pyrolysis of source rocks) will establish end-member isotopic compositions for each source rock and reveal if isotope fractionation occurs between a source rock and its produced oil. Isotope and multi-element data from experimental and natural oil, and potential source rock(s), will identify a multi-proxy geochemical signature in oils that can be traced to the major source rock(s). This pioneering work will pave the way for applications to other important but less-well-understood Canadian petroleum systems.